Move over, Max Cady. A more fearsome and considerably larger predator has been spotted in the Cape Fear area.
Marine research group OCEARCH used its Instagram account (@ocearch) to share the news of Contender, the largest male white shark they'd ever tagged, being spotted 45 miles southeast of Cape Fear near Wilmington, North Carolina.
CBS News contextualized the sighting of the massive shark, which OCEARCH described as "weighing nearly 1,700 lbs" in their caption. Contender measures nearly 14-feet-long and was first tagged at the start of 2025.
In another video documenting a previous sighting, OCEARCH revealed that sharks like Contender spend the winter down South in the Atlantic. The Outer Banks, where Contender's tracking pinged, could serve as an early rest stop on the journey back farther north.
Along that voyage, OCEARCH speculated that the sharks can take a break and feast on prey-rich waters. That can help them gear up for the lengthy trip that could take them all the way to a summer destination in Maine or Canada. OCEARCH has a number of tagged sharks making moves at this moment, as they shared in a post on X.
Tracking these sharks involves using devices that can only transmit their location when they break the ocean surface. For precise data, multiple message transmissions from the shark's dorsal fin are needed while Argos satellites are overhead.
Single message transmissions, or "Z-pings," provide a general location but don't provide precise data, OCEARCH senior data scientist John Tyminski told CBS News.
OCEARCH's work helps illuminate the migration patterns and habits of great white sharks. That information can generate broader ecological understanding to understand how sharks are responding to rising ocean temperatures and other changes to their environment.
Great white sharks are apex predators who help maintain a balanced marine ecosystem, which is vital for a healthy planet. Their movements can also be dangerous to humans if they end up migrating to beaches and surprise unprepared swimmers and surfers.
They're currently under threat, which is part of why conservationists are looking at both tracking them and nurturing them with tropical rewilding to help them survive. Efforts like OCEARCH's can help protect locals and transfer valuable information for conservation.
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$200 or more 💰 Commenters on Instagram liked the sighting, but urged Contender not to linger too long.
"He's out there cruising around," one remarked. "Hope he moves the hell on before diving season."
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